engraving.

In Jacob 4 of the Book of Mormon, Jacob writes these words: "(I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words on plates) and we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain . . . "

Reading this brought two points to my mind.

1. If it was so difficult to engrave onto these plates (and I think he means time consuming more than anything) then you can assume that anything that we have in the Book of Mormon is probably of great value. Someone didn't just throw it in there to fill space. It would take a lot of time and effort to engrave words on these metal plates, so anything that we have in the Book of Mormon is there for a reason.

2. What would I take the time to engrave? What would I deem worthy of intense labor and time? Council to my future children? Life lessons? Testimony?

Jacob continues, "but we can write a few words upon plates, which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us . . . that they may know that we knew of Christ and had a hope of his glory."